


Retirement

by silverlocusts



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: F/F, Mentions of sex and BDSM, Post-Series, Shaw fixing up cars, This started with Shaw sitting on a porch with a beer and a rifle, i don't even know what happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-24
Updated: 2016-04-24
Packaged: 2018-06-04 07:22:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6647929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverlocusts/pseuds/silverlocusts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I started imagining where Shaw would retire to and thought she'd make a great anti-social gun nut living in the backwoods of America. Of course it turned into slight more than that. And Root had to come around. In fact, Root was everywhere.</p><p>Chinese translation courtesy of jade-wei: http://backstabbing.lofter.com/post/1d6acb07_b009a6d</p>
            </blockquote>





	Retirement

It’s hot outside. The ground is dust and the sky is a broad expanse of intense blue. Shaw can see the air shimmering with heat. She remembers seeing mirages in the desert before, half asleep and perched atop a camel’s back. It seemed like they only appeared when you weren’t looking for them.

The chair creaks under her as she picks up her beer from the porch, the cool condensation a pleasant contrast to the enveloping heat. She takes a swig and lets the bottle rest in her lap, the glass chinking against the barrel of her rifle. 

It’s quiet out here. She still hasn’t decided if she likes it. The nearest neighbors are a couple of miles away and town is even further. She should know, she’s walked back from the bar in town on a number of occasions, too drunk to drive.

It’s almost lunch time, judging by the shadows, and Shaw thinks she might do some more work on the car later this afternoon. Or maybe the bike. Root seems to like the bike better. She should check the mail too.

She drains her beer and heads inside, the AC juddering away pleasantly. She makes a sandwich and eats it standing at the sink, looking out the back window at the dust and tangles of grass that lead off into thin trees and underbrush. 

 

***********************************

 

The rifle barrel is hot on her shoulder. She rests it there casually, like an obnoxious fuck you to all the drill sergeants who pissed her off over the years. Her tank top is damp with sweat from walking the perimeter.

The fence is intact for the most part. She doesn’t bother checking the more advanced hardware. She stops at the end of the driveway to peer along the road and check the empty mailbox, then shoots a few rounds into the ‘No Trespassing’ sign for fun. She likes to think it makes the place look more ominous. 

 

***********************************

 

Shaw reaches for another beer from the cooler, halfway through changing the bike’s oil filter and covered in grease already. She wipes a hand on the rag sticking out her back pocket and twists the beer cap off. As she drinks, she imagines the marks her dirty fingers would leave on Root’s body. 

 

***********************************

 

Shaw steps out of the shower and wrings her hair out, reaching for her towel. The fabric snags on the nail she’s hammered into the wall and tears. The whole thing is looking pretty ragged now. She should probably get a new one, but she likes the harsh, stiff material against her skin.

She walks into the bedroom and lets herself dry naturally as she wanders around. She’s decided to get a burger in town tonight. 

After dressing herself, Shaw stares at her handgun collection, wondering which one to strap on tonight. She enjoys having one on display in this town, even though she always has a back-up piece strapped somewhere out of sight. She picks the Jericho 941 for her hip and slides Root’s Colt Mustang into her ankle holster.

 

***********************************

 

The jukebox in this place seems to play the same ten songs on rotation. Shaw thinks she might even recognise one or two from her childhood. No-one dances. 

At least the burgers are decent, and Shaw doesn’t get bothered as she polishes off a double cheeseburger and fries at the bar. She’s established a reputation for herself as a loner who can kick the ass of guys twice her size, so most of the locals don’t bother her. 

That’s a lie, they do. But in a friendly way that’s almost worse than being hit on or sized up. The sheriff is the worst of the lot. He caught Shaw’s USMC tattoo a while back and thinks they’re buddies now. 

At least the bartender knows to keep his mouth shut. She drinks beers and whisky chasers.

 

***********************************

 

Shaw’s nicely fuzzed from the alcohol. Some guy who’s name Shaw was told but can’t remember is trying to talk to her at the bar. She sips a whisky and waits for silence. He’s young and has never seen Shaw here before. 

The bartender shoots her a look like he’s thinking about intervening as he slings her another beer. Her mouth twitches up at the corner and she shakes her head minutely. The guy has started calling her darlin’ and sits down at the stool next to her.

Shaw hears the sound of heels on the wooden floor even over the noise of the jukebox and rowdy patrons. She’s about to turn round when her unwanted admirer slips his hand onto her thigh. 

Before she can react the guy’s face is crashing down to connect with the bar top, his nose breaking with the force and bright, red blood begins to flow. Shaw sips her beer and winks at the bartender.

The guy slides off the seat groaning and she slips into his place. She takes Shaw’s beer and drinks almost half the bottle. Shaw has noticed the lull in chatter that accompanied the violence, and tries not to smile. Root knows how to make an entrance.

 

***********************************

 

Root’s acquired, of all things, an Impala, and Shaw enjoys the motor purring as they drive back. She hopes Root will leave it for her.

They don’t speak on the way back, but Shaw can feel herself adjusting, expanding, to encompass Root’s presence. Root drives one-handed, caressing Shaw’s thigh the whole way home, building a fire in her belly.

Root leads her into the house gently, her teeth shining in the darkness. Shaw both loves and hates the darkness out here. 

If Root stays for a couple of days they’ll start to play long games of control. But right now they are needy and desperate. Shaw has wondered for a long time if they will survive these nights when everything burns so brightly it must surely burn itself out. 

Somehow, they always do.

It’s late when they sleep. Shaw hooks her foot over Root’s, anchoring her in place. 

 

***********************************

 

Shaw wakes early and slips on a wifebeater and Root’s panties. It’s warm outside despite the sun barely being over the horizon. She pops the trunk of the Impala and finds the presents Root has bought her.

She’s fondling a shotgun with a smile when she notices Root watching her from the porch, naked as the day she was born. Shaw runs her eyes languidly over the body she knows almost as well as her own.

She takes Root on the hood of the Impala like some teenage boy’s wet dream. 

 

***********************************

 

Root makes them go grocery shopping but she lets Shaw drive. Root wears a ridiculously girly summer dress, like she hasn’t murdered men in cold blood. Shaw knows she’s not wearing any panties underneath though.

Root makes them some fruit salad thing for lunch, worrying about Shaw not getting enough vitamins or something. Shaw rolls her eyes, she doubts Root has been eating enough protein. She decides she’ll cook them steak for dinner if Root is still there.

 

***********************************

 

Root sits on the porch and watches Shaw wash the Impala. Shaw’s packing, and it makes it hard to concentrate. When she’s done, Root fucks her brains out in the back seat and for once they come almost at the same time.

Root zips her up and tells Shaw she loves watching her work on cars. Shaw spends the next few hours messing around with the engine of the Dodge Challenger she’s fixing. Root brings her a beer and Shaw gropes her naked ass under that stupid dress while they make out.

Shaw’s filthy and sweaty when she calls it quits, and she takes great pleasure in ruining Root’s summer dress and leaving black fingerprints all over her body. Root orgasms three times before she lets Shaw come.

 

***********************************

 

They take the new guns out to the range Shaw has created with bits of corrugated metal. While they shoot, Root tells her about the place she learnt to fire a gun, shooting at tin cans in the backwoods of Texas. 

Afterwards they sit at the kitchen table and clean guns and drink beer. They don’t talk unless it’s functional. Shaw doesn’t need to know where Root has been for weeks, everything important she knows from the way Root touches her and lets herself be touched. 

When the car is complete, she’s thinking about taking a road trip and wonders if she wants Root to come along. 

 

***********************************

 

Root goes for a nap as the sun gets lower, and Shaw clears away the guns. She’ll have to build a new rack in the cellar for the weapons Root has brought along.

She’s washing her hands when the perimeter alarm goes off. Shaw goes into the bedroom to shut the noise off and look at the camera. Root has slept through it. She sees a police vehicle coming slowly up the drive.

Shaw closes the bedroom door and waits for them on the porch, her rifle leaning close by. She sees it’s the sheriff. He smiles at her as he gets out the car but Shaw doesn’t return the gesture.

“Evening, ma’am.” 

“Sheriff.” 

He walks up to the porch, just a few feet away, and Shaw watchs his eyes rove slowly over the Impala. Shaw remembers fucking Root on the hood and feels heat between her legs. She ignores it as she waits.

“You got a visitor, I hear.” 

It wasn’t a question, so Shaw doesn’t answer. 

“See,” he continues, “we had a complaint about a fight last night at Ricky’s place.”

Shaw tries not to smirk. 

The sheriff looks uncomfortable. “You know anything about that?”

Shaw picks her words carefully. “I wasn’t involved in a fight.”

The sheriff just nods his head for a few moments, his thumbs tucked into his belt. Shaw watches his eyes scan the property, looking for signs of another person, she guesses. 

“Might be your visitor friend knows something about it.”

Shaw keeps silent again.

“Seems we got witnesses who say they saw a woman walk into the bar and break this fella’s nose. Same woman you left the bar with five minutes later.”

The sheriff licks his lips and seemed to squirm a little under her gaze.

“I’d like to talk to her if she’s still here.”

Shaw sighed. “And if she’s not?”

“Well, I guess I’d ask you for a name and forwarding address.”

Shaw almost laughed at that.

“This guy pressing charges sheriff?”

The sheriff doesn’t answer straight away, just looks up at the sunset.

“He ain’t decided yet. Mayhap he won’t. I’d still like to talk to your friend. I don’t like violence in my town.”

His words are light and even, but Shaw can’t tell if he would push this further.

“How about I talk to my friend, and you go back to keeping the peace then sheriff?”

He studied her. “She listen to you?”

“Yes,” Shaw lied.

He nodded, considering. “Well, alright. You talk to her. Explain that this is a quiet town, we don’t want no trouble. Just, make sure it don’t happen again.”

“I will.”

 

***********************************

 

Root has kicked off the covers in her sleep and Shaw takes a minute to admire the view, the pastel colored panties and t-shirt making her look like some innocent sorority girl. Shaw decides to tie her up for causing so much trouble.

Shaw teases her until she can see the wet patch soaking through Root’s underwear. She makes Root come in her panties twice. After, she gives her a stern talking to about drawing too much attention to them. Root smirks at her and Shaw knows there will be payback later.

She goes to make dinner for them.

 

***********************************

 

When it’s fully dark, they sit on the hood of the car and look at the night. It’s just turning chill and Shaw likes the warmth that Root provides next to her. Root tells her that she likes to look at the stars when she’s away, because no matter how far apart they are, she knows the same stars are shining above Shaw too.

Shaw has never thought about the stars as a uniting force before, they always just seemed distant and emotionless, watching the world turn with cold indifference. Now that Root has mentioned it though, Shaw knows what she means. It feels good. 

 

***********************************

 

Root takes an hour to tie her up, leaves her ass red raw, and makes her come six times before she’s allowed to sleep.

When Shaw wakes, Root and the Impala are gone. 

There’s a folder left on the kitchen table but Shaw makes sure she gets the coffee brewing before she opens it. Inside are more land deeds and blueprints. Root’s letter reminds her that Bear will be joining her soon, and Shaw begins to plan their daily schedule together.

 

***********************************

 

After breakfast, Shaw drives into town to make some calls. She texts the number Root has left to say that phase two is under way. 

On the drive home she reminds herself to check with Root that someone else will be doing the welcome talks. If it’s left to her, Shaw knows she’ll scare most of the recruits to death on their first day. And not by accident.

She shifts in her seat. Her ass is really stinging today.

**Author's Note:**

> The Impala may or may not be an ode to Supernatural


End file.
